Alternative Resource Energy Has Long History
Alternative resource energy is a fancy title for all the
energy sources we are currently seeking as an alternative to some of the
current energy supplies, such as gasoline in cars. Basically any way to use a new form of
energy, preferably renewable, instead of traditional fossil fuels, such as
burning wood or coal are methods to supply alternate energy. The first alternative endeavors apparently
occurred in the late 1500s when Europeans faced starvation and freezing because
they had used so much wood that they needed another resource. They turned to coal at this time as well as
maize and potatoes.
The efforts to replace our energy resources only escalated
from there. The next alternative
resource energy was converting from whale oil, which was used for lamps in the
19th century, and switching to petroleum as whale oil became more
and more expensive. The petroleum found
in Pennsylvania in 1859 was just what they needed. Making ethanol from foodstuff was started
around 1917 by Alexander Graham Bell when he realized our fossil fuels of coal
and oil would not last forever because they were not renewable.
Beginning in the 1970s, Brazil was producing a lot of fuels
this way. Ethanol is now huge in Brazil
and huge numbers of their gas stations have ethanol pumps. Cellulosic ethanol is a form of ethanol that
is created using the entire plant that is used in creation, rather than just
part of the crop, which makes it one of the most efficient and planet-friendly
methods of fuel production. This is good
for the environment because all the products and energy put into the raising
and harvesting of the necessary plant life do not change. It is only that more fuel is the outcome of
this process!
More efforts in alternative resource energy came in the 1970s by
President Jimmy Carter, which were later thwarted in the 1980s when petroleum
prices went really low. Renewable energy
sources have been the focus in recent years as the global warming debate and
the planet have heated up. Wind, tide,
sun, rain, and geothermal heat are all forms of energy that the earth creates
with great force on its own and scientists and global communities are trying to
find ways to economically incorporate these methods to solve the energy
problems that our planet Earth faces.
It’s important that everyone come together and invest some time and
money into improving our carbon footprint to move into the future with
renewable energy sources.
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